Why so many Atari 400's and no 800's?

[Rik]

Why is it you can find lots of Atari 400's in the wild, but never any 800's?I actually prefer the 400,I found 3 in the wild,but it would be nice to get my hands on an 800!I can imagine the shipping costs if i got one on ebay,that sucker is heavy,and my financial situation is pretty bad right now.Like the 5200,I've never seen an 800 in the wild.

[Wickeycolumbus]

You are Luckey to find 400s, I have NEVER seen an A8 in my life at all

[UNIXcoffee928]

The 800 weighs slightly less than 10 lbs.

 

They are very well built & have an amazing keyboard.

 

Great machines! They cost more than double the 400 when they were released. Set up an ebay search string, and you can own one for US $10.00-$100.00 + shipping.

 

Highly recommended box. You'll need a 1050 drive & get a 130XE also, to run all software.

 

 

Good luck!

[Rik]

The 800 weighs slightly less than 10 lbs.

 

They are very well built & have an amazing keyboard.

 

Great machines! They cost more than double the 400 when they were released. Set up an ebay search string, and you can own one for US $10.00-$100.00 + shipping.

 

Highly recommended box. You'll need a 1050 drive & get a 130XE also, to run all software.

 

 

Good luck!

I have found 3 of those 410 tape players in the wild also,none worked.They either dont play ,dont rewind,dont fast forward,or nothing at all,its too bad.I tried changing the rubber belts,no luck,dont know where to find the right ones with the right tension,length,etc :xI opened them up,and it looks like the drive motors are all shot anyway.Thats okay,im happy using my 400 for just gaming anyway,the games rule!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited June 25, 2008 by Rik

[machf]

I think I have 3 410s lying around in the closet, they all have the same problem - no, not the belt, that one was easy to fix - they kept getting a plastic pin broken. Now I have an XG-12 (similar to the XC-12, but not manufactured by Atari).

[Rik]

Thats no big deal.I am going to throw all 3 410's in the garbage tonight,i have enough clutter in my place as it is,and im quite content using my 400 to play its cartridge games anyway

[kenfused]

I had 410 that had the broken pin and play wouldn't stay down and you had to hold it for the full load (or tape it down and cross your fingers). A later was able to swap the play and pause buttons and got a little more use until the play button broke again.

 

 

If you throw them away don't forget to cut the cables off. Never know when you might have the use for an SIO cable (like to make an SIO2PC, etc).

 

--Ken

[pepax]

Thats no big deal.I am going to throw all 3 410's in the garbage tonight,i have enough clutter in my place as it is,and im quite content using my 400 to play its cartridge games anyway

You should have sent them to Beetle. He's so good at turning various Atari orphans to previously unheard of devices.

[machf]

If you throw them away don't forget to cut the cables off. Never know when you might have the use for an SIO cable (like to make an SIO2PC, etc).

Actually, the cables themselves won't be too useful, as they only have 5 wires. Better just unscrew the connector casing and pop out the contacts, keeping the connector itself only. Later you can replace the contacts with ones from these 12-pin board connectors (they are sold with the contacts on a strip, ready to be cut and crimped onto the corresponding wires):

Edited July 2, 2008 by machf

[tjlazer]

I have found the following in the wild:

 

Boxed Atari 1200XL (!!!)

Atari 400

Atari 800

Atari 130XE

Atari 800XL

Atari 1050

Atari 1027

[kenfused]

Actually, the cables themselves won't be too useful, as they only have 5 wires. Better just unscrew the connector casing and pop out the contacts, keeping the connector itself only. Later you can replace the contacts with ones from these 12-pin board connectors (they are sold with the contacts on a strip, ready to be cut and crimped onto the corresponding wires):

Ah didn't think of the 410 not having all the wires. Better than the XM301 modem where they let the unused wires hang loose inside if i remember correctly.

[doctorclu]

Ok, 800's in the wild... you're all gonna hate me for this ...

 

-My first 5200 was bought at a Goodwill Computer center. Was in nice shape with good controllers. (2000)

-Have found a 400 or so in the wild. One in a slightly beaten box. (1999-2004)

-Found my latest 7800 in a flea market a few months back. (2008)

-Found my second Jaguar in a pawn shop with AvP (1999)

-Found an Atari 800 with disk drive (1993)

-Found a XEGS in a junk store (2001)

-Found a Lynx 1 in a thrift store (2007)

-Found a 2600 in a slightly beaten up box. (2000)

-Current 800 came from First Saturday here in Dallas I believe. Got a lot of Atari things there.

-Here is the best story of all, found a 800 xl in a Electronics Store in their back room. (1999) I saw switches on the back of it. I asked the price, they wanted $10. The 800 xl was equiped with regular XL and XE basic, a 256K rambo memory upgrade, built in Omnimon, and Switchable Axion/XL OS.

 

The moral of the story... keep your eyes peeled. I really think that in 2000-2003 people were dumping this stuff. With the economy the way it is, and changing interests you will probably see a lot of that being dumped again soon in the next few years. I know I have dumped a bunch of stuff.